OET GUIDES · LAST REVIEWED 12 JULY 2026
How OET Speaking is actually scored: the two criteria families explained
By the MedEngly clinical team, led by a UK based IMG doctor who came through this pathway.
OET Speaking is not one impression score. Your recorded role play is assessed by two trained assessors against nine separate criteria, grouped into two families that measure different things: how you speak, and how you run the consultation itself.
This guide explains each criterion in plain language and the fastest realistic way to gain a band on each one.
The shape of the score
Your two role plays are recorded and assessed afterwards, not scored live by the interlocutor. Linguistic criteria are each marked out of 6; clinical communication criteria are each marked out of 3, across five separate indicators. Both families feed into your overall numeric score on the 0 to 500 scale.
Grade B, which most regulators commonly ask for, corresponds to 350. The practical consequence is the same as in Writing: a role play that is strong on linguistic delivery but weak on clinical communication, or the reverse, can still miss B, because both families count.
Intelligibility: can a stressed patient follow you first time?
This measures whether your pronunciation, stress, and rhythm let the listener understand you without re-hearing or guessing. Accent is not the issue; clarity is.
To gain a band: slow down slightly for names, doses, and instructions, and finish sentences rather than trailing off or self-correcting mid-word.
Fluency: does your speech flow without long breakdowns?
Fluency scores natural flow and pacing, not speed. Long pauses, frequent restarts, and heavy reliance on filler words all lower this score, even when the content is accurate.
To gain a band: practise the openings and closings of role plays until they are automatic, since a fluent start carries momentum into the harder middle of the conversation.
Appropriateness of language: is your register right for this listener?
This checks whether your vocabulary and tone match a patient or carer rather than a colleague. Clinical jargon aimed at a lay listener lowers this score even when it is technically correct.
To gain a band: rehearse plain-language versions of the clinical terms most likely to appear in your profession's cards before exam day.
Resources of grammar and expression: does your range serve the message?
This scores the accuracy and range of grammar and vocabulary available to you under pressure, weighed by how well it serves communication rather than by complexity for its own sake.
To gain a band: prefer the structure you can control over the ambitious one you cannot, and correct yourself briefly when you notice an error rather than abandoning the sentence.
The five clinical communication indicators
The second family scores the consultation itself, separately from how you speak. Assessors listen for five things across both role plays:
- Relationship building: opening appropriately and acknowledging the patient's emotion when it appears.
- Understanding the patient's perspective: eliciting what they already know and are worried about, before explaining.
- Providing structure: signposting the conversation so the patient can follow where it is headed.
- Information gathering: asking clear, relevant questions rather than assuming.
- Information giving: delivering information in short, checked chunks rather than one long explanation.
COMMON QUESTIONS
What score is grade B in OET Speaking?
Grade B corresponds to 350 on the 0 to 500 scale. Most regulators that accept OET commonly ask for B in each subtest, but always confirm the current requirement with your regulator.
Are OET Speaking role plays scored live?
No. The interlocutor plays a role during the conversation but does not score you. Both role plays are recorded and assessed afterwards by two trained assessors against the published criteria.
Which OET Speaking criterion do candidates lose most marks on?
In our marking practice, understanding the patient's perspective and providing structure are the most common weak indicators: candidates move to delivering information before finding out what the patient already knows or is worried about. Both improve quickly with deliberate practice against different cards.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Reading about the criteria is the start; seeing them applied to your own letter is what moves the grade. Get one letter marked against all six criteria, free, no signup.
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Independent preparation guidance based on publicly available OET materials; not affiliated with, or endorsed by, OET or Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment. Regulator requirements change: confirm current scores with the regulator you are registering with.